We've learned that Yell Group veteran sales, marketing and product development executive Paul Plant has decided to accept a retirement package and will leave the company at year's end. Plant tells us that he'll take a short holiday, but almost…
We published a new Advisory today in The Kelsey Report that examines the recent deal between European Directories SA (which publishes print and online directories in eight European markets) and the VoIP giant Skype, with its 480 million worldwide users.…
The global directory publisher Yell Group has succeeded in its effort to convince lenders to go along with a plan to raise 500 million pounds through a rights issue and restructure its 3.8 billion pound debt load. Debt restructuring has…
The Swedish directory publisher Eniro has passed a key financial milestone, according to its third-quarter and year-to-date earnings report, released this week. Through nine months of 2009, online revenues surpassed offline (print revenues), making Eniro a majority online directory business…
The cable TV giant Comcast has begun offering a Yellow Pages-branded local search experience via its cable television network. Through the remote, Comcast subscribers can access local business listings through the television remote, and SMBs can have their information listed…
New Yellow Pages Group (Canada) CMO Stephane Marceau, on the job since June, is beginning to make his mark, with two big online announcements this week. The combined moves suggest YPG is stepping up its efforts to generate more traffic…
Marketing Week is reporting that Yell is launching 18 vertical microsites offering deep content on a particular area, including the law, gardening, automotive, plumbing and others. The content is from a mix of Web-based sources, including how-to articles from expert…
The long-awaited merger agreement between the Yellow Pages Association (representing publishers) and the Association of Directory Marketing (representing Yellow Pages ad agencies, or CMRs) has been approved by the groups' respective boards. Now the deal faces membership approval, which appears…
Motorists in Melbourne, Australia, can now navigate their city in 3-D using the Whereis navigation system, produced by Sensis, Australia's leading directories publisher. Whereis is rolling out 3-D city models this week. The product focuses on Melbourne's central business district.…
European Directories SA has named Ben Legg as its new chief operating officer. Legg comes to EDSA from Google, where he was COO of European operations. EDSA is a major directory player in Europe, with market leadership positions in Austria,…
I've just returned from the Association of Directory Publishers midyear meeting in Orlando, Florida, where roughly 150 operators and vendors gathered to network and share best practices in a challenging time for independent publishers. One publisher I spoke with said…
From the department of transparent marketing ploys comes an effort by 192.com, a UK Internet directory service, demanding an opt-in regime for phone book distribution in Britain. This is neither a unique nor an indefensible position. Many environmental groups around…
The Nordics directory publisher Eniro last week announced a reorganization to a "more rational corporate structure." The new plan divides the business into three functions that cut across all the company's national operating units -- Products and Services, Operations and…
European Directories SA, a London-based directories holding company, has named Joris van Oers CEO of DeTelefoongids Holding BV, EDSA's flagship Dutch operation. Van Oers takes over from EDSA CEO Cornell Riklin, who has been interim head of DTG since April,…
Here are some interesting directory and small-business advertising related items I've plucked from recent news alerts. For a bit of insight on how small businesses in a meat and potatoes category (Tire Dealers) view the evolution of their ad spend,…
Caught up with Bill Dinan after our Directional Media Strategies event last week, where he sat on a panel that I moderated called "Fixing the Yellow Pages Business Model." Much of the session content centered around pay-per-call models. The same…
Mobile directory managers from four major global publishers laid out how their mobile products are evolving in a panel billed as an examination of Mobile Search & Yellow Pages: The Business Model. Some key takeaways: The stars are aligning for…
We just heard from three developers of mobile local search apps, who showed simulator demos and talked about the thinking behind their products. One of their challenges, noted moderator Mike Boland, is breaking through in a "sea of apps." Boland…
Yellowbook announced today it has acquired the Louisiana and Texas directories of ypOne, not long after ypOne sold its Canadian properties to Canpages. This deal is yet another suggestion that many U.S. independent publishers are struggling in the current tough…
I recently spent some time at the offices of HomePages, a DeKalb, Illinois-based independent publisher that has been quietly and steadily growing by producing very simple print Yellow Pages directories amid all the talk of market consolidation and the shift…
